KHAMAN Maluach, Ulrich Chomche, Thierry Serge Darlan and Rueben Chinyelu are names synonymous with the once-famed NBA Academy in Saly, Senegal. Those players, moulded and shaped by the academy, went on to carve out names for themselves on various courts in the United States on platforms such as the NBA, the G League and the college circuit.
It’s not a given that players who came through the now-closed NBA Academy pipeline will realise their playing dreams. Sometimes the dreams of others lie elsewhere, but still within basketball.
The latter statement is the story of academy alumnus Brian Ditsheko. From the platinum-rich town of Rustenburg in the North West province of South Africa, he left the country seven years ago (2019) as a starry-eyed teenager to join youngsters like him in Saly, Senegal, to fulfil a basketball dream.
A few years later, the dream took a different turn for Ditsheko, now 26, an age at which most players have already entered the prime of their careers. Seeing the door that once held the promise of a fruitful playing career slowly close, he chose not to see a dream deferred; he saw opportunity and pivoted.
Drawing up X’s and O’s, giving instructions from the sidelines and calling time-outs to design plays or make adjustments was his true calling. He was meant to be Coach Ditsheko.
While he feels he could lace up, Ditsheko, who returned to South Africa last Saturday, would rather dedicate his time to coaching, an aspect of the game he says he has fallen in love with.
“I feel I can still play, but I fell in love with the sideline (coaching). It’s something I feel I am good at,” said Ditsheko.
He went on to explain how the coaching bug bit. “I feel that coaching happened organically for me. Obviously, I have a love for the game… teaching and playing. What I can say is my transition to coaching happened naturally, and I love it,” said Ditsheko.
He also got candid about his desire to pursue the game further not materialising. “I had dreams to play basketball at the highest level, but post-COVID and after the shutdowns, there was a lack of opportunities. I decided to take a different route,” said Ditsheko. “It was around 2023 or 2024 that the light bulb switched on for me. People started to see it and recommended that I join the coaching department or school development.
Then he had his moment of affirmation that he was ready to become a coach.
“When people started to trust me, it showed I had a good understanding of what I am doing, and after spending time with the Houston Rockets at the 2024 Summer League, I knew then I am going to be good at coaching and its what I want to do.”
Ditsheko is one of several South Africans who have been part of coaching staff at the Summer League. Coaches like Vincent Ntunja, Lindokuhle Sibankulu (both former South Africa national team players), Junior Mmoloke and Igor Lunneman have all had the opportunity to be a part of the NBA Summer League.
For Ditsheko, the Summer League experience was an eye-opener.
“It’s amazing. It’s basketball at the highest level. Good facilities,” said Ditsheko. “The teams have a large coaching staff. I mean, Mike Brown of the New York Knicks won the NBA title with eight assistant coaches. So it’s basketball at the highest level; it’s detailed – everything defensively and offensively is really detailed. There is always a why for the way things are done. So if you are playing KD (Kevin Durant), you cannot come unprepared because he is going to give you 40 if you don’t study how he plays.
“So coaching at that level was amazing for me. When I was with the Rockets, I got to work with Amen Thompson, a player with the potential to be an All-Star. So it was just amazing.”
In his last few months before returning to South Africa, following the closure of the NBA Academy last Friday, Ditsheko was already transferring knowledge to others in his host country, yielding positive results.
“With the academy being in Senegal, we have learnt with others within the country. I took a job at a local school and led them to a championship, and it was an amazing part of my growth because I got to teach,” said Ditsheko. “The more you teach the kids that don’t know, the more you also get to learn. The kids teach you how to teach them. It was a way for me to give back to a country that accommodated me for six to seven years.”
With the academy closing its doors, how does Ditsheko feel about the situation?
“The closure of the academy is just sad. It takes away a huge opportunity in terms of basketball for African kids. It’s sad,” said Ditsheko. “On my part, I have grown enough to step away from the academy, and I accept that my time there has come to an end and I need to close that chapter.
He is considering his options, and sees his home country, South Africa, as a viable option.
“Yes, I am looking at opportunities in South Africa, and there is a good chance that I might stay in South Africa. It’s something I want to do because I feel I can give a little bit to the country that taught me how to play basketball,” said Ditsheko.
He also credits the academy for shaping him into an adult. “I always say I came to the academy as a boy and I left as a man,” said Ditsheko. “I have learnt so much about life and values. I am a grown man now, a potential father and husband. That’s because men of different nationalities surrounded me. They invested in me. That’s why I say I came a boy and left as a man.”
If anyone were to glean anything from Ditsheko’s story, it is that he is an example of adapting to reality and changes in circumstances, and that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
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